Time spent arguing with the faithful is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.
Interpretation
Engaging in discussions with strong believers can be valuable, even if the debate seems unproductive.
Christopher Hitchens suggests that while debates with those who have unwavering beliefs may seem fruitless, they often lead to enlightening exchanges. These discussions not only challenge our own perspectives but can also prompt deeper understanding and reflection on fundamental ideas, thereby enriching the discourse on faith and belief systems.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of dialogue, one could use this quote to emphasize the value of discussing beliefs.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
There will never be any more perfection than there is now.
There is a tendency to seek an objective account of everything before admitting its reality.
i discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind, but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature.
We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.
A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he's often sure he can find one. And that's a condition which is clearly not enjoyed by philosophy.
Compared with that of Taoists and Far Eastern Buddhists, the Christian attitude toward Nature has been curiously insensitive and often downright domineering and violent. Taking their cue from an unfortunate remark in Genesis, Catholic moralists have regarded animals as mere things which men do right to regard for their own ends. . . .
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